A New Session - A HomestuckFriendstuck Fanfiction working title
by XProSkeith
Summary: A story based in the Homestuck universe featuring my friends and I as we venture through our own session of SBURB.
1. Book 1: Skaia's Call

**A New Session [working title]**

**by [X-Pro]Skeith**

**Book 1: Skaia's Call**

**Chapter 1: The Beginning of the End**

Michael awoke suddenly, lying in his bed, mildly disoriented. It was morning and the sunlight was drifting in through the slits in the blinds of his window. It seemed like a normal morning, but it wasn't the scenery that was bothering Michael; it was the dream that he just had. It was hazy, as the dream was fading as he returned to the waking world, but he recalled being in a strange world the likes of which he had never seen before. It was a world shrouded in total darkness and everything, including the streets and buildings, was a deep shade of purple. He remembered being in a tower, looking out over the world. He wondered briefly about what it was or what it could mean, but he quickly shook off the dream and went to get dressed for the day. He donned his favorite pair of jeans and one of his trademark black dragon t-shirts. He quickly slipped on his black tennis shoes and took a look at himself in the mirror. He was a rather heavy set individual, but he also had a large build and was tall. He tried to do something with his dark blonde hair, but its poofiness and curliness would not yield, so he gave up and walked to his computer. It was time to see what his friends were up to today.

He quickly opened his Internet Relay Chat, also known as IRC, client and logged in to the private server that he and his friends ran as Skeith. It seems he was the first one to be awake this morning. No surprise considering that he had woken up early because of that dream. He figured his friends would be along soon because today was an exciting day. Today they would receive their copies of SBURB, a new game that they had been invited to beta test. Very few people were invited to the beta, so it was particularly exciting. Sure enough, after about ten minutes, his friends began to appear online on the IRC server. His friends logged in as follows: Xavi as ScytheX, Kevin as Xeni, Tash as paandesoul, and Blair as Chocola. They exchanged good mornings and talked excitedly about the game. None of them had received it yet, but apparently it came with two versions: a client version and a server version. They would received both versions as both were necessary for successful gameplay.

Skeith: Have any of you had any strange dreams lately?

Xeni: No, I haven't even been dreaming lately. That I can recall anyway.

paandesoul: Same here.

ScytheX: Nope.

Chocola: I have.

Chocola: I was in a very bright a beautiful place. Everything seemed to be made of or colored gold.

Chocola: The sky was cloudy, but some of the clouds had pictures in them.

ScytheX: Like the clouds looked like something else? That's not so unusual.

Chocola: No, the pictures were of events. I'm not sure what they were

exactly, but I do remember seeing us in them.

Xeni: Wow, that is weird.

Skeith: The place you described sounded similar to the place in my dream. But there were no cloud or bright light where I was. It was dark and everything was a very deep purple. And there were definitely no clouds.

paandesoul: *shrug* Maybe they were just dreams.

ScytheX: Yeah! I'm sure that's it, lol. So, strange dreams aside, our games should be arriving soon!

Michael felt that there was more to this than that, but he decided that it would be best not to dwell on it or press the matter, so he continued to chat with his friends until they all left for lunch.

**Chapter 2: The Game Begins**

A package arrived at his house while he was eating. It was SBURB! Just then he received a private message from ScytheX.

ScytheX: Hey! My copy just arrived!

Skeith: Great! So did mine! Let's load it up and play.

ScytheX: Sure. I'll set up as the server and you connect as a client.

Skeith: Alright, sounds good. Let's get to it.

Michael proceeded to load up his client version of the game. When it was done, he connected to Xavi's server version. Nothing really seemed to happen for him though.

ScytheX: Hey, I can see you and your whole house!

Skeith: Well, that's a bit weird, but let's roll with it. Let's see what this game can do!

As he said that, Michael heard a breaking sound coming from his bathroom. He quickly ran to look and saw that the entire bathtub and the floor to which it was attached had been lifted into the air by some sort of giant green arrow!

Skeith: Xavi, WTF are you doing?

ScytheX: IDK I'M SO SORRY! I DIDN'T MEAN TO DAMAGE ANYTHING! LET ME PUT IT BACK!

The green arrow moved it back towards the spot and then seemed to let go of it. The tub dropped making a loud crashing noise. It did not go back into its original place.

Skeith: Well, I guess that's just permanent…

ScytheX: Sorry!

Skeith: Well, let's try something else. What else is there?

ScytheX: Well, There's a variety of items that I can deploy here from the

menu. Maybe we should try one of those?

Skeith: Sounds good to me. Bring them all out.

The green arrow began moving again. Suddenly, a giant Alchemiter appeared and was placed in the middle of his living room.

Skeith: The hell is this thing?

ScytheX: It's called an Alchemiter. I think it makes other things.

Skeith: From what?

ScytheX: … Um… I'm not exactly sure.

Skeith: Goddamnit, Xavi.

Skeith: Just deploy more things and we'll figure it out as we go.

Next, a massive cruxtruder appeared. Xavi placed it in the corner of the living room, not far from the alchemiter. Directly next to it, he placed the totem lathe. Michael watched as these bizarre machines began to occupy his living room. He still didn't have a single clue as to what any of them were supposed to do.

Skeith: Please tell me there is a purpose to this…

ScytheX: Hey! I'm trying here! That totem lathe thing seems to make stuff from an item called "cruxite" which is produced by that other big machine, the cruxtruder.

Skeith: Well, I certainly see that it's producing tons of cruxite right now. Look at it go. So much cruxite. Wow.

ScytheX: Michael, you ass, it's not turned on! Go press that switch over there and it'll start up.

Skeith: lol Alright

Michael walked over to the cruxtruder and pressed the button that Xavi had indicated. The cruxtruder sprang to life. Its lid opened and a kernelsprite and a cylinder of green cruxite appeared. A green countdown also appeared on the crutruder. It read 15:00 and began counting down.

Skeith: Well, I guess this is cruxite. IDK what this other thing is though. And what's up with this countdown?

ScytheX: Yeah that's cruxite. I think that other thing is something called a "kernelsprite" according to the game. You can "prototype" it by throwing items into it. But you can only do it twice, so pick carefully! As for that countdown, well, tbh, I haven't got a clue.

Skeith: Well, I guess we'll just wing it then. There a card slot here on the totem lathe, so I guess it needs a punchcard. I'll go look around the house for one and think about what to prototype this kernelsprite with.

ScytheX: Yeah! Sounds good, but, um… hurry? That countdown gives me a bad feeling.

Skeith: Yeah, yeah, I'll hurry up.

Michael began searching through his house for a card to use in the alchemiter. He had finally went into his bedroom, the cluttered mess that it was. Sword, daggers, knives, throwing stars, and other such weaponry were on display throughout the room. He also had wall scrolls and posters from various animes and video games as well as some with just cool designs or optical illusions. The floor of his room was littered with various items, most of it clothing. He rummaged around his room for a short while before he found his laptop. He thought for a moment and smiled before throwing his laptop into the kernelsprite that had been following him. The kernelsprite immediately absorbed the laptop and its imaged changed into that of his laptop. He looked at the floor where his laptop had been and noticed a punchcard. He quickly retrieved it, but as he was turning to return to the totem lathe, he heard an explosion. He looked outside his window and noticed that the sky was red. He looked up and saw meteors raining from the sky.

Skeith: XAVI! Holy shit!

ScytheX: Huh? What is it? I was trying to play a client version with Tash while you were busy. It seems I can run both! Anyway what's up?

Skeith: THERE ARE METEORS FALLING FROM THE SKY! They're destroying everything!

ScytheX: WHAT?! Crap, I wonder… Do you think it has something to do with that countdown?

Skeith: It must. It must be a countdown to when a meteor strikes this location. That is to say, it's how long I have left to complete whatever objective that this card completes! But I only have 2 minutes left!

ScytheX: You better hurry! Wait... If that's the case, I only have 5 minutes before the meteors arrive here! I gotta go!

Skeith: Wait, Xavi!

Skeith: Damnit…

Michael ran to the totem lathe and placed the piece of green cruxite on it. He quickly inserted the punchcard and the machine began to carve a cruxite dowel for him. The countdown had dropped to fifty seconds now. He placed the cruxite dowel on the alchemiter and activated it. A bright light appeared and when it vanished, there was a large green bookshelf with green books. A large book fell from the shelf, landing in front of Michael. He retrieved it and leafed through it, hoping for some sort of help, but the pages were all blank. The timer had dropped to ten seconds. Explosions could be heard in greater frequency and there were screams. The smell of smoke was beginning to waft its way to his nose. Out of frustration and desperation, Michael ripped the pages from the book. Suddenly, everything was engulfed in blinding white light and then it faded. There was only silence afterward. The screaming, the explosions, and the smell of fire and smoke had all vanished. Michael didn't notice, but his kernelsprite separated into three parts. Two of those went flying off silently in opposite directions, landing in their receptacles on Derse and Prospit. Michael never noticed this as he walked to the giant glass door in his living room and looked outside to see a world which he had never seen before.

**Chapter 3: The Winds of Fate Are Blowing**

Xavi was panicking a little bit. He had just finished talking to Michael about what was apparently his imminent demise. His countdown had reached two minutes from its original twelve minute start. The tall, tan-skinned 21-year old ran through his house, trying to find the punchcard that he needed. Xavi was wearing jeans, a purple shirt with light blue stripes, and an unbuttoned black sweater that bore two thick white stripes on the left arm. His yellow converse made little noise as he ran through the house. His kernelsprite zipped along silently behind him, easily keeping pace with the young man. As Xavi ran through the kitchen, he clumsily ran into a bowl of vegetables that had been left on the table. Xavi tripped and fell. As he fell, he saw one of the leeks from the bowl fly towards his kernelsprite and land on it. It immediately prototyped the leek and transformed as such.

ScytheX: Oh you have got to be kidding me…

paandesoul: What?! WHAT HAPPENED?! XAVI DID YOU DIE?!

ScytheX: No, but my kernelsprite just got prototyped by a leek…

paandesoul: WAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH?

paandesoul: LOL you're kernelsprite's a leek!

ScytheX: Not helping, Tash!

paandesoul: Sorry! You better hurry up, btw. You only have 2 minutes left.

ScytheX: WHAT?!

paandesoul: Good luck! :D

Xavi lept to his feet and started running again. As he was moving through the living room, he noticed something on the table. It was the punch card! Of course he overlooked it fifty times while running around the house, but it didn't matter now. He snatched the card and quickly shoved it into the totem lathe which proceeded to carve a blue cruxite dowel for him. He moved to place it on the alchemiter and then messaged Tash.

ScytheX: Hey, I'm good. You should really hurry and get your session going! Mike and I already have meteors coming at us, so it can't be too much longer before they come at you as well!

paandesoul: Yeah, I know. Kevin has already started the process to bring me over. I'm about to try and prototype my kernelsprite and find the punch card.

ScytheX: Ok. Good luck! Hopefully I'll see you wherever this crazy ass game is taking us!

paandesoul: Yeah, you too. TTYL.

Xavi looked over at the alchemiter and noticed that a giant blue whack-a-mole game had appeared. He also realized that the countdown had dropped to thirty seconds. Quickly, he grabbed the mallet and waited for the first mole to appear. The middle mole shot upwards and Xavi immediately slammed the mallet onto its head. The entire whack-a-mole game and the mallet itself shattered. Xavi and his house were engulfed in a brilliant white light. As quickly as it came, the light was gone and there was calm, a reprieve from the falling meteors that had been assaulting the area around his home. He noticed that his vision seemed hazier, but it wasn't because of something that was wrong with him. He walked towards one of the open windows and looked at the strange new world in which he had arrived.

**Chapter 4: Life Departs From the Planet**

Tash looked away from her phone where she had been talking to Xavi and saw that Kevin had finished placing the alchemiter, totem lathe, and cruxtruder.

paandesoul: Hey, thanks! Everything's good to go!

Xeni: Yeah, but you should hurry. Time is already short, so you probably don't have much left.

paandesoul: I know. But don't worry about me. I'll handle getting there. Go get yourself there, too. Blair's probably waiting to get you started!

Xeni: Yeah, you're right. I'll PM her and see if she's ready. Neither of us will have very much time considering how much has already been lost.

paandesoul: All the more reason to get moving! Now go!

Xeni: Alright, Alright! I'm going! Good luck!

paandesoul: You too. Be careful

Putting her phone away, Tash breathed deeply and then activated the cruxtruder. Just as she thought, there was not much time left. She had nine minutes to find the punchcard and escape. She could hear distant explosions. The meteors must already be here and they must be close. She began running through her house, searching every nook and cranny. Her black dress with white stripes and her short black hair swayed from side to side as she ran through the house and her black boots created loud footsteps as she continued. Tash was also wearing a black hooded vest and black leggings.

When she arrived at her room, she saw her violin. On a whim, she tossed it into the kernelsprite which immediately took on the form of a violin. This made her happy for some reason. She continued her search and finally found her punchcard as she was digging through all of the stuff in her room. With only a few minutes to go, she grabbed the card and ran to the totem lathe. She placed the red cruxite on the totem lathe and insert the punch card. It immediately began sculpting her cruxite dowel. Once it was finished, she place it on the alchemiter and activated it. With a flash of light and energy, a large red case of red string instruments appeared. There was one particular violin which seemed to call to Tash. She removed it from the case and placed it in position and began to play it. The violin released a screeching sound as the bow severed its strings. Tash was shocked by the sudden breaking of the strings, but she did not have any time to be surprised as she and her house were engulfed in a white light. When it faded, there was silence. The explosions and the red sky were gone. Tash approached the windows of her house so that she could see this strange new world in which she found herself.

**Chapter 5: Time Stops For No One**

Kevin closed his message to Tash and went to open a new message to Blair only to realize that she had already been trying to contact him

Chocola: Kevin! We need to start you now and try to get you in!

Chocola: Like pretty soon, time's running out.

Chocola: Kevin?

Chocola: Kevin where are you?!

Xeni: Hey, sorry! I was helping Tash get started!

Chocola: Finally! It's ok, but we have to get started now. My server is already set up, so you just need to connect as a client.

Xeni: Alright, I'm connecting now.

Xeni: Done.

Chocola: Awesome. I'll start deploying the devices now.

On queue, the green arrow appeared and began placing the alchemiter, totem lathe, and cruxtruder in Kevin's living room. It was moving fast, but it was precise and careful in its placement. Kevin quickly activated the cruxtruder. The countdown indicated six minutes.

Xeni: I have 6 minutes.

Chocola: Well fuck. That means we're almost out of time. I need to contact

Michael and have him bring me in. Will you be fine on your own?

Xeni: Yeah, I've got this. Go.

Chocola: Alright, good luck.

Kevin closed the message and begin his search for the punchcard. He walked by a full length mirror on the wall and took a moment to stop and look at himself. No need to enter the game without looking great. He was wearing a white dress shirt with rolled up sleeves and a grey vest complete with a thin black tie, all slim fit to fit his body type. He adjusted his white belt that adorned his black skinny jeans and took a brief glance at his hi-top black sneakers before fixing his jet black hair. Now certain that he looked awesome, the 21-year old asian resumed his search, briefly fiddling with the two wristbands on his left wrist, one white and one black, on his way through the house. He realized that his kernelsprite was following him. He saw his favorite teapot sitting on the table and tossed it at the kernelsprite. It immediately become the image of a giant teapot. He smiled at this. When he looked back down at the table, he realized that the punchcard had been underneath the teapot. He quickly grabbed it and ran back to his living room.

When he arrived in the living room, he inserted the punch card into the totem lathe and it began to carve a red cruxite dowel for him. When it was done, he took the red cruxite dowel and placed it on the alchemiter. He noted that he only had a minute left on his countdown. When he looked back at the alchemiter, a red McLaren car had appeared. He was not fully sure what to do with this, but he only had twenty seconds left to figure it out, so he got into the car. The engine immediately came on. He went to press the gas pedal and the car took off, slamming into a wall. Upon collision with the wall, the car shattered into many pieces and kevin landed with a gentle bump on the floor. There was a brilliant flash of light as the countdown reached its final few seconds, but it soon faded. Then there was silence. Kevin scrambled to his feet, not sure what had just happened to him. He looked around, trying to get his bearings. His house looked fine, but what was outside his windows seemed strange. He walked towards them to get a better look of the strange new world in which he had arrived.

**Chapter 6: Space Travels**

Blair knew that she was nearly out of time. She quickly opened up a new message with Michael.

Chocola: Michael! Hey, I need you to bring me into the game!

Skeith: Huh? Oh right, I do! Sorry. Was distracted by this place.

Skeith: It's so strange but awesome and cool at the same time.

Chocola: That's great and all, but if we don't hurry, I'm going to be killed by a giant meteor.

Skeith: Right. Sorry. I'll set up the stuff you need.

The green arrow appeared and began to quickly place the alchemiter, totem lathe, and cruxtruder throughout Blair's living room. Blair wasted no time activating the cruxtruder. She saw the countdown gave her only three minutes to complete everything.

Chocola: Well that's just great.

Skeith: What? What happened?

Chocola: I have 3 minutes.

Skeith: Damn. That's not long. Get going! I'm sure you can do it. Good luck

Chocola: Thanks…

Blair sighed and turned to look at the rest of her house. Her shoulder length blonde hair flowed as she turned. She adjusted the sleeves of her large cream colored sweater and then started running through the house, her dark tan skirt moving with her as she ran. Her knee high brown leather boots made loud footsteps as she ran. She noticed that her kernelsprite was following her and she remembered that it needed to be prototyped. She had arrived in her room and looked for something to use as a prototyping. She became flustered because she couldn't decide and she knew time was growing short. She abruptly grabbed her cute meowchi plushie and hurdled it into her kernelsprite which immediately took on the form of a large meowchi plushie. She stopped for a moment, dazzled by the cuteness, but she quickly recovered and began rummaging through her room in search of the punchcard.

She could hear the explosions and screams; they were even closer now. She knew she was nearly out of time. Finally, she saw the punch card sticking out of one of her bags. She retrieved it and sprinted back to the totem lathe. She glanced at the cruxtruder and saw that she only had fifty seconds remaining. She grabbed the black cruxite dowel that the totem lathe had made for her and used it on the alchemiter. The alchemiter produced a beautiful black porcelain doll. Blair was at a complete loss of what to do with the doll. She picked up the doll and began frantically pacing around the room. She only had twenty seconds left. Just then, a nearby meteor strike rocked her house and made a loud noise. Blair was startled by the noise and sudden rocking of her house and slipped of the alchemiter. The black doll fell from her hand as she flailed her arms in a vain attempt to grab something and regain her balance. The doll shattered and Blair saw a bright flash of white light before she fell unconscious as her head hit the floor.

**End of Book 1**


	2. Book 2: Strange New Worlds

**Book 2: Strange New Worlds**

**Chapter 1: Land of Circuitry and Logic**

Michael looked outside his window. Stretched before him was a world that seemed to be built from computer chips, circuits, copper, and gold. Some parts of the place looked oddly reminiscent of what one would expect to see in a Tron universe. He looked up at the sky, but didn't really see anything. It appeared that the planet was lit solely by artificial light from the circuits and lights running through buildings and the streets. He was so absorbed in the strangeness of this new place that it took him several minutes to realize that Blair was trying to contact him. He quickly replied and realized that she needed to be brought into the game. He went to the computer in his room and placed the items for her. After wishing her good luck, he stepped away from his computer and looked over his sword collection. It would be best not to go exploring without a weapon of some sort. He finally selected his a basic katana. It had a beautiful red sheath and a design etched into the blade. It had been prepared for combat use.

As he picked up and equipped the sword, something unusual happened. A display appeared before him. It read, "SYLLADEX". It then displayed a green display labeled "Strife Specibus". A card like structure appeared with his sword on it and placed itself into the Strife Deck, labeling itself as Swordkind. He noticed that his sword had now vanished. He held his hand out and made a grasping motion and thought about needing his sword. The sword suddenly appeared in his hand. He smirked and returned it to the Strife Deck. Michael waved his hand and the display shifted to feature blank pink cards. There were ten blank cards visible to him. Based on what he had just seen, he assumed this to be his inventory. Apparently, it was limited to only ten items. Well, he would have to do something about that later. For now he quickly messaged the whole group in IRC about what he had discovered. They would be able to read it later when they had time. He waved his hand again, closing the Sylladex.

He looked at his sprite. It was just a floating computer. He looked around his room and came across a picture of his best friend. Well, who else would serve as a better guide? Without further hesitation, he tossed the picture of his best friend, Tiger, into the sprite. The sprite immediately transformed into a white ghostlike image of his best friend with a laptop floating nearby him.

"Well," said Michael. "I guess that worked."

"Yep. Probably the best choice you could have made for a second prototyping, man," responded Tigersprite.

"Hmm. Since you're a part of the game, perhaps you can give me some information as to what exactly is going on here?" asked Michael.

"Yeah, since you fused me with the sprite and this laptop, I've got a good bit of information about everything."

"So, first things first. Is it safe to assume that our home has been destroyed? I mean like the entire planet."

"Yes. The reckoning effectively annihilated all life on Earth except for those who escaped to the Medium."

"The Medium? I assume that's wherever I am right now?"

"Yep. This is a small part of the Medium. Your other friends are in other locations in the Medium."

"So, what exactly is this place?"

"We're on your planet, the Land of Circuitry and Logic."

"My planet? I got an entire planet?"

"Yeah, each player gets a planet that's created based on them, their role, and their quest. Think of it as a home or starting point for the real game."

"I kind of figured that this is still somehow a game. Especially after that Sylladex interface."

"Ah, cool. You already figured that part out already. So, anything else you want to know?"

"Yeah. I saw my inventory is pretty limited. I want to change that. Anyway to hack the system? This is a game, so it should have a manipulatable code of some sort."

"Hmm. That seems possible, but I'm not sure where you'd find an access point."

"I have an idea."

Michael grabbed the laptopsprite and began typing. Sure enough, he was able to find the code for the game. After all, the sprite was directly linked to the game itself.

"Heh. Found it," Michael said, smirking. "Looks like the inventory system is actually pretty low priority, so the security and protection around it is pretty basic. Mind helping me work through it? Tiger was always pretty good at coding, so you should be, too."

"Yeah, I can help," replied Tigersprite, nodding. "It won't be hard at all."

The two easily cracked through the little security around the game's inventory system and gained access to the inventory code. All they really needed to do was change the variableset for the inventory. With that completed and saved, Michael waved his hand, summoning the Sylladex. He scrolled through his inventory of blank cards. The cards just kept scrolling endlessly. He smiled.

"Looks like it worked," said Michael.

"Yep," replied Tigersprite. "You and the others should be able to freely store items as you need."

"So, if this is game and there's an entirely separate storage system devoted to weapons, it would be safe to assume that there are also enemies, yes?"

"Of course. There are other NPCs as well though."

"Naturally. Hmm. I assume those black things crawling in through the window are the first and most basic enemies of this game then?"

"You nailed it. Looks like it's time for your first strife!"

Michael turned to face the oncoming imps of various color. They all had something were carrying laptops while other were carrying leeks, violins, or teapots. Some of them also looked like fluffy black cats. Michael smirked and withdrew his sword from the Strife Deck. He readied himself in a fighting stance with the sword and then engaged them. He was very skillful with sword after having many lessons and teaching himself. In spite of his size, he was able to move quickly and slice the imps as they charged him. The last group of imps was approaching him and they moved to throw their weapons at him. Michael ran towards them, sword at the ready, when suddenly he moved forward at an impossibly fast speed. When he stopped, he'd already sliced through them. Michael had apparently also picked up the strange colored and shaped items these imps kept dropping. He was still confused by what had just happened.

"Hey, what was that just now," Michael asked.

"I'm not fully sure, but I expect it's something to do with your class or aspect," replied Tigersprite.

"Class? Aspect? What's that? I mean, the idea of a class makes sense since this is a game, but I'm not sure about aspect. Is there anyway to tell what class or aspect I am?"

"Yeah. You're a Knight of Mind."

"OK. What does that mean?"

"You class is Knight and your aspect is Mind."

"I figured that much. I was asking for a description of the class and aspect."

"Hmm. According to the information I have, a Knight is both an offensive and defensive class. It's primary role is to defend and protect. The Knight is also able to augment himself and his party with his aspect."

"That kind of sounds like a paladin in WoW."

"That'd be a pretty accurate comparison."

"So, how about my aspect? What is the Mind aspect?"

"The Mind aspect is concerned with, rather obviously, the mind and mental state. It is associated with thought and logic. A Hero of Mind can usually think calmly and logically even under pressure and can formulate plans on the fly. Your use of the aspect itself is more or less determined by your class."

"So, what you're saying is I'm sort of a Protector of Mind? And apparently some form of leader or planner?"

"Yeah, that kind of sums it up pretty well."

"Well, I guess that fits well. And I guess that sudden burst of speed had something to do with me unintentionally augmenting myself with my aspect."

"That seems most likely."

"Well, anyway, I take it I can get stronger by doing things and killing enemies in the game, right?"

"Yes. You've already advanced several levels from wiping out all those minions."

"Awesome. I guess the more I advance the more I'll hone my skills with controlling my aspect and class. So, is there anything else that I should know about the game right now?"

"Well, I'm not supposed to be so straightforward with information, but since I'm also prototyped as your best friend, I'm going to ignore that."

Michael smiled and said, "Of course you would. Anything to help me out."

Tigersprite nodded and said, "Well, for starters, this place is called the Medium and is located inside the Incipisphere. This is the world of your session. You were brought here to give birth to a new universe."

"I see. Would it be safe to assume that my home world has been destroyed?"

"Yes. The meteors that you saw were part of the Reckoning. When the Reckoning happens, the meteors from beyond the veil, which is located past the edges of the Incipisphere, are hurled at the Battlefield. Skaia, sensing this, uses defense portals to redirect the meteors. These portals lead to your planet, hence the sudden appearance of the meteors. At this point in time the Reckoning has not occurred."

"Doesn't that create a paradox?"

"More or less, yes. The Reckoning is the reason you were called here, but your coming here will inevitably cause the Reckoning. It's a bit weird, I know."

"Eh, not the oddest thing I've heard. So, tell me more about Skaia, the Battlefield, and the Veil."

"Skaia is everything within this session. It is a dormant crucible of unlimited creative potential. I mean, it has to be if it can create and entire universe."

"Indeed. Go on."

"The planet located at the very center of Skaia and the center of the Incipisphere is called the Battlefield. There, the armies of Prospit and Derse wage a neverending war against each other that is in constant stalemate. The Black King leads the Dersite army, the forces of evil and destruction, and the White King leads the Prospitan army, the forces of light and creation. However, since you and your friends entered the session with prototyped sprites, this fight will not remain as a stalemate for much longer. When you entered the Medium, the data of your prototypings was sent to both Prospit and Derse, affecting the Kings, Queens, and underlings. It also caused the Battlefield to grow and evolve, which is necessary for the birth of the new universe. Now that the prototyping has occurred, the Prospitan army must lose. They are always destined to lose this fight."

"What? Light is always doomed to fail?"

"Yes, but that's why y'all are here. When the White King falls and the Reckoning begins, the Heroes can stop the Reckoning by defeating the Black King on the Battlefield. In doing so, you will win your session and be able to claim your Ultimate Reward, a new universe."

"I see. So not all is lost when they lose. It comes down to us. But I assume that it isn't that simple, is it?"

"No, it's not. In order to give rise to the new universe, the Hero of Space must breed a proper genesis frog with the help of the Knight. Furthermore, each player needs to complete their own quest on their home planet and face their planet's denizen."

"So it seems we have a lot of work to do. Wait, you mentioned that Derse was the kingdom of darkness. I recall having a dream of such a dark place. And Blair had a dream about a golden place."

"That would make sense. After all, you are a Derse dreamer and she is a Prospit dreamer."

"What does that mean exactly?"

"Each player also has a dream self, located on either Derse or Prospit. Both selves cannot be awake at the same time though."

"Do they serve some kind of important role?"

"Of course. They actually have quite a few uses. One of which is a sort of second chance mechanism. If a player dies, they'll wake up as their dream self. However, the dream self will soon die if an event is not triggered as the damage to the real self will be inflicted upon the dream self, just on a delay."

"What's the trigger?"

"A kiss from another player."

"You've got to be kidding me."

"Nope. That's how it works. But there is another use. They can also be used to reach the highest level of power that a player can achieve, God Tier."

"God Tier? That sounds pretty strong. How do I get that?"

"Well, to be blunt, you have to die."

"You can't be serious. Dying is usually a bad thing."

"Yeah, it is, but if a player has already hit the normal level cap, they can ascend to God Tier by dying on their Quest Bed."

"That's a little fucked up."

"Indeed. Also, don't ask where your quest bed is. That information is actually not available to me right now. I guess you'll have to find it through exploration."

"Yeah, besides it'll be a long time before I'd be able to use it anyway, so it'd be pointless to worry about it now."

"Yep. Hmm. I think all that's left to tell you is the information about the Seven Gates."

"What are those?"

"There are seven gates or portals for each player. They connect to different places, including the other players' planets. In order to complete your quest and successfully progress through the game, you must pass through all seven gates."

"What lies beyond the seventh gate?"

"Your denizen. For now, it slumbers, but when you are ready, it will be awake and waiting for you."

"What will this denizen do."

"That I do not know. It will be different for each player and unique to your circumstances. I do, however, think that it will be important in completing your quest."

"Well, it sounds like I should get started. Where's the first gate?"

"Directly above your house. To get to it, you will need your server player to build your house up until you can reach the gate."

Michael sighed and pulled out his phone. He said, "I guess I better contact Xavi."

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea."

Michael contacted Xavi through IRC and explained to him that he needed to build his house up. Xavi set to work, but said he did not have enough grist. This was not a problem for long as the underlings had apparently taken an interest in Michael. He quickly dispatched them, gathering more and more grist for Xavi. Finally, the house had reached the height of the gate. Xavi said he had to go, but also told Michael that he had deployed the holopad and the punch designix. Michael thanked him and took a look at the new device.

He took his digital camera and placed it in his inventory. He then took the captchalogue card with his camera and a blank captchalogue card from his infinite inventory and placed them in the punch designix separately. He then walked to the alchemiter and placed both cards into it at once. It produced the captcharoid camera. He proceeded to use it on his desktop and a pair of awesome looking glasses. He took the cards and input their captcha codes into the designix and it produced cards for the two items. He placed the two together in the alchemiter and produced an augmented reality computing system. He placed the glasses over his eyes and slipped on the gloves that went with it. Immediately, he was able to see all of his surroundings, but with his computer interface floating around. He was able to manipulate it by moving his hands. Satisfied, he closed the display. His glasses flickered, clearing now that the augmented reality had been put into idle.

Michael motioned for Tigersprite to join him as he swiftly ascended the ramps that Xavi had built for him. Along the way, he made quick work of the underlings that kept trying to stop him. He was beginning to figure out how to use his aspect a bit. If he focused at the right moment, he could boost his speed or strength for and instant. It was far from perfect control, but it was progress. When he reached the top, two massive ogres appeared, blocking the gate. Michael readied himself for combat.

He engaged the ogres, but they were better than he expected. One of them landed a good hit on him and sent him flying to the edge of the roof. He almost fell off, but managed to hold on. He got back up and readied himself. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, clearing and calming his mind. He focused. He was stronger and faster than this. His eyes snapped open and suddenly he had crossed the distance between him and the ogres and had already sliced their arms off. He followed up with another couple of smooth swings and the ogres fell, bursting into grist which Michael quickly retrieved.

"That was an impressive recovery," said Tigersprite.

"Yeah. I think I have a name for that power now," replied Michael.

"Oh? What is it?"

"I think I'll call it 'Mind Over Matter'."

"That sounds like a pretty good name."

"I thought so. Well, with them gone, I guess it's time that I go through the gate. Will you be coming with me?"

Tigersprite shook his head and said, "No. I'm not allowed to follow you through the gates. However, I can now give you this."

Tigersprite revealed a gold pendant with a brilliant emerald in the center of it.

"This pendant will allow you to summon me whenever you need me."

"Awesome! Thanks, man."

"No problem. Now, you need to get going. Good luck, my friend."

"Yeah, thanks!"

Michael placed the pendant around his neck and then turned to face the first gate. He ran and jumped through the green gate and into his own world, the Land of Circuitry and Logic.

**Chapter 2: Land of Stones and Fog**

Xavi looked outside, but all he could really see was endless fog. It was cold and it made him feel uneasy. He looked back into his house and noticed the leeksprite. He sighed. Of course he would prototype his sprite by tripping and knocking a leek into it. He couldn't help but feel screwed somehow. He moved to his room. He came across his beloved Hatsune Miku plushie. He looked at it then back at the sprite and back at the plushie again. Finally, he tossed the plushie into the sprite. The sprite immediately transformed into a ghostlike image of Hatsune Miku except that instead of her normal pigtails, she had leeks. Hatsune Leekusprite had been born. The new sprite smiled brightly at Xavi.

"こんにちは! 初音Leekuです。" said Hatsune Leekusprite.

"Pardon?" Xavi replied, looking confused. "Umm, I think you said hello and your name is Hatsune… Leeku?"

"Yes! I'll try to keep from speaking in Japanese since it seems you're not a fluent speaker."

"Yeah no. I'm only fluent with english and spanish."

"No problem! So, are you ready for your adventure?!"

"Umm actually I have no idea what's going on."

Hatsune Leekusprite smiled, made a pose and said, "Don't worry! That's why I'm here! I'm your sprite. You're guide for this game!"

"Wait, we're still in that game?"

"Of course! Where did you think you were, silly?"

"Well, could you tell me what's going on here?"

She tilted her head, smiling, and replied, "Certainly! But I can't just reveal everything to you, y'know! That'd be too easy and things would be boring."

Xavi sighed and said, "Great… Well, I guess just tell me what you can then."

Leekusprite happily explained what the Battlefield and Medium were. She also explained the war between Derse and Prospit, how they had affected it, that he must complete a quest, and about the gates. She did not reveal to him nearly as much information as Tigersprite had to Michael.

"I think I get it," said Xavi. "So, it's kind of like a big RPG, right? I just have to level up and complete quests?"

"Yeah!" replied Leekusprite. "That's pretty much it! Oh! I should tell you about your class and aspect though."

"Huh? What're those?"

"Your class is like your role in the game and the aspect is sort of what you use or embody."

"Ok, I think I understand. So what am I?"

"Your a Sylph of Breath! The sylph class is a healing and supportive class. You'll use your aspect to heal your teammates. Breath is the aspect of wind. It's movement. It's what you'll manipulate in order to heal."

"So I heal through wind? Like a healing wind or something?"

"Yeah, that's right!"

"Ok, well, that does sound pretty fitting for me."

"Yeah! So, you ready to start your adventure?"

"I think so, but first I need to find some sort of weapon."

"That would certainly be a good idea. Especially since you have some enemies heading your way."

"WHAT?!"

Xavi looked over and noticed that there were black imps crawling through the windows. He panicked a little bit, but hurried to his room. There he found a staff. It was just a simple hard wooden staff, but it would suffice for now. He noticed that when he grabbed it, the strife specibus appeared, indicating that he could now use staffkind. He wasn't fully sure what that meant, but he'd worry about that later. For now, he had to try and dispatch the imps with his staff.

He faces the imps, assuming a combat stance with his two-handed staff. The imps encroached upon him and he began to strike at them with his staff, aiming for his head. Unfortunately, a simple staff wasn't the strongest of weapons, so dispatching them was proving to be more troublesome than he had expected. He sustained some mild injuries, but ultimately defeated all of the imps after bashing them in the head enough times. He grabbed the grist that they dropped. He examined his wounds and let out a sigh. When he did, something odd happened. A blue energy moved with his breath, landing on his wounds. Xavi felt a cool breeze flow across the wound briefly and then noticed that his minor injury had been healed.

"Umm… I guess that's how my class and aspect work together?" Xavi said.

"Yep!" replied Leekusprite. "You use the power of Breath to heal others or even yourself! Pretty cool, huh?"

"Yeah, I can see how that will be useful, but it seems I don't have much offensive power."

"Nope! Sylphs aren't a particularly offensive class! But you can improve your combat ability as you level up and alchemize new weapons."

"Oh, I see. That would be good."

Xavi's phone began to buzz. Michael was messaging him in IRC. He quickly checked the message and saw that Michael was asking him to build up his house so that he could reach the first gate. He'd already been briefed on this part of the game by Leekusprite, so he just went straight to his computer and began to build the house. When he was done, he also deployed the punch designix device and holopad for Michael to use. With Michael fully ready to go, he contacted Tash to see about building up his house. She began to do so after deploying the punch designix and holopad for Xavi; however, she quickly depleted Xavi's grist supply. She told him that he would have to kill more underlings before she could continue. Xavi wasn't too thrilled by this, but he did see other imps scurrying about outside and in his house, so he went to engage them. He defeated some of them, but eventually found himself backed against a wall with a wave of them approaching him. Xavi took his staff and slammed it horizontally against the ground. A huge gust of wind was generated when he did this, knocking back the wave of imps. This gave Xavi the chance he needed to finish them off with some more swings of his staff.

Eventually, he collected enough grist and Tash was able to build his house tall enough to reach the first gate. She wished him good luck and advised him to try and improve his staff before he went through the gate. Xavi was sure that this was a good idea, but he wasn't sure what he could use to make his staff better. He began to search through his house for something with which to alchemize it. He finally came across a machete. He figured that could be helpful, so he took it and used the punch designix to make punch cards of his staff and the machete. He then placed both cards into the alchemiter and it produced a voulge, a two-handed wooden staff with a curved, sharp metal blade at the end. This was much better. Happy with his new weapon, Xavi scaled his newly constructed house. He encountered a few imps along the way, but easily defeated them with his new staff.. He finally reached the gate and Leekusprite appeared again.

"Congrats on making it to the first gate!" she said excitedly. "Now I get to give you this!"

The handed Xavi a pendant with a bright blue sapphire on it and said, "You can use this to summon me to your side at any time!"

Xavi placed the pendant around his neck, tucking it under his shirt, and said, "Thanks! I'm sure I'll need to sometime."

"I'm here for you anytime you need me. Now, it's time for your journey to really begin! Get going! You've got a long road ahead of you."

"Yeah, I know. Thanks!"

Leekusprite smiled cheerfully at Xavi as he leapt through the first gate and finally took his first real steps on the Land of Stones and Fog.

**Chapter 3: The Land of Seeds and Opals**

Tash looked outside and saw a place that appeared to be mostly fields or gardens. Well, they would be except for the fact that there were no plants growing. It was just tilled soil. Sections of the tilled soil or possible gardens were seperated by lines of brilliant opals of various sizes. The roads that run throughout the visible area were also lined by opals on each side of the road. She stepped away from the window and noticed her sprite. It still needed another prototyping, so she went to her room. There she found her beloved alpaca plushie. Without much hesitation, she tosses the plushie into the sprite. The sprite quickly became a ghostlike alpaca with a violin strapped to its back. Tash smiled at the fluffy cuteness that was now her sprite.

"Hello!" said Alpacasprite. "I'm here to help you on your journey! Thanks for making me to cute and fluffy by the way."

"Umm…," replied Tash, still kind of unsure as to what was going on and still taken aback by the cuteness. "You're welcome? Out of curiosity, can you actually play that violin?"

"Why of course I can!"

Alpacasprite retrieved the violin from its back and began to play. Surprisingly, it was able play quite beautifully. The song it played was a happy tune and it was masterfully performed. After a short time, it stopped and returned the violin to its back.

"Well, I hope you enjoyed that, but we should get you started on your adventure!" said Alpacasprite.

"Oh, yeah, I guess that would be good," replied Tash. "So, um, where should I begin?"

Alpacasprite gave her a rundown of everything that she really needed to know just like Leekusprite had for Xavi. It then began to explain her class and aspect.

"You're a Page of Life," said Alpacasprite. "Life is just what it sounds like. The life and energy of all living things. A page is an interesting class. They usually start off quite weak, but they have the potential to become the most powerful member in their party, attaining absolute mastery and control of their aspect."

"So, what, I could destroy or create life?"

"It's possible! A fully realized page could theoretically synthesize new life from almost nothing! We'll just have to see how you grow and develop."

"I see. Well, I guess if I'm going to be adventuring and such, I'll need a weapon of some sort."

"Indeed you will! It's dangerous to go exploring in this world without a way to defend yourself."

"Well, the biggest problem is that my family doesn't keep any kind of weapon in their house. So I literally have nothing to go off of.."

"Hmm," said Alpacasprite. "What about those nifty twin pistols over there in that picture?"

Tash looked at what the sprite was talking about and realized that it was referencing the guns that Dante was wielding on the cover of a Devil May Cry game. That could work. She retrieved the box and placed the image of the guns on the alchemiter and activated it. It alchemized Ebony and Ivory, a black steel gun and a silver steel gun respectively. She retrieved the weapons, triggering the strife specibus and strife deck windows. Her strife specibus now contained gunkind and the guns were placed into the strife deck. She held her hands out and the guns materialized in them. She then willed them gone and they returned to the strife deck. Pleased with this, she went to walk to her computer only to find a large number of imps had appeared.

"Looks like its time for your first strife!" said Alpacasprite. "Good luck!"

"You're not going to help me?" asked Tash. "There's so many of them!"

"Oh, I'm sure you'll be just fine."

"Thanks…"

Tash readied the pistols. She wasn't quite sure what she was doing, but she knew she had to do it regardless. She took aim and began firing shots at the imps. She was a surprisingly good shot and she was able to nail quite a few of her targets. The imps couldn't even get really close to her because the pistols had pretty good range. After dispatching them, she collected their grist.

"I told you you'd be fine!" said Alpacasprite.

"Yeah, but it wouldn't have hurt you to help!" retorted Tash.

"Ah, but if I had helped, you would have missed out on very valuable experience."

Tash sighed and said, "I guess so. So what should I do now?"

"Contact your server player and build up to the first gate!"

"Ok. I'll do that."

Tash went to her computer to message Kevin, but was greeted by a message from Xavi. He apparently needed help to build up to his first gate. Tash messaged Kevin and told him what she needed him to do before setting to work on building Xavi's house. As she was working on Xavi's house, she heard noises coming from above her and her house shook slightly every so often. Kevin was doing his job while she worked on her job. She quickly finished and went outside to see Kevin's progress. He had nearly finished, but he had run low on grist, so she would need to eliminate a few more imps. He had to build the house a bit taller than the others because of Tash's particularly short stature. She wasted not time and taking out a good number of imps with her dual pistols. When Kevin said she was done, she proceeded quickly to the top of her house where she was greeted by a particularly large ogre wielding a leek in one hand a violin in the other hand. Arming Ebony and Ivory, she posted herself at a safe distance and prepared for combat.

The ogre charged at her, swinging with its violing. Tash quickly moved to dodge the oncoming attack and fired a few shots, but the ogre seemed largely unphased. It seemed unusually strong and angry. It threw its giant leek at Tash. Tash took aim at the leek with her ebony pistol, focusing for a brief instant and then firing. A green bullet exited the chamber, colliding with the leek. Upon collision, the leek instantly decayed into a pile of mush, falling harmlessly in front of her. Tash suddenly felt a bit of an energy drain, but she recovered quickly and fired two well placed headshots on the ogre, finally slaying it. Alpacasprite appeared next to her.

"Well, there's the first gate! Congratulations!" said Alpacasprite.

"Thanks. By the way, um, what happened with the leek?" asked Tash.

"Oh! That was some form of your Life aspect powers! I told you, a page can be the most powerful with full control and mastery over your aspect. It would make sense you could use Life to destroy something."

"Yeah, it just seems weird to destroy with Life. It also made me feel tired."

"Well, you're still a low level. So you don't have the energy, skill, or mastery built up yet! But you will soon enough! But for now we must part ways. I can't follow you beyond the gate. But I can give you this."

Alpacasprite presented Tash with a beige colored pendant. Tash took it and place it around her neck.

"With this, you can summon me to your side at any time. So, if you're lost or need help, just call me! I'll come running."

"Alright. I will. Thanks for all your help."

"My pleasure."

Alpacasprite bowed to Tash as she turned to face the first gate. She took a deep breath and jumped through the first gate and into the Land of Seeds and Opals.

**Chapter 4:The Land of Tin and Cogs**

Kevin was still a bit dazed after everything that had happened to him. He looked outside and noticed that his house was now sitting on some sort of mountain, giving him a large view of the land below. He saw what appeared to be a steampunk wonderland. Everything appeared to be made from tin or copper and there were gears, cogs, and steam valves everywhere and on everything. Kevin wasn't sure if this was really awesome or just weird. He figured it was probably more awesome than weird though. He noticed his teapotsprite floating there. He decided it was time to prototype it again. He went to his room and saw the cardboard cutout of Anne Hathaway as Catwoman from The Dark Knight Rises. There was no question. This was his second prototyping. He quickly threw the cutout into the sprite. The sprite immediately transformed into a ghostlike version of Anne Hathaway in her catwoman outfit. She was also holding a tray with a teapot and teacups on it. She smiled at him slyly.

"Well," said Annesprite. "I see you have good tastes."

"Um, thanks?" replied a mildly startled Kevin.

She smirked and said, "It seems I will serve as your guide for this game. So, then, shall we begin?"

Kevin nodded and she began her explanation of the basics of Skaia, the Medium, the game, the Reckoning, and the quests that they must complete.

"There's also the matter of your class and aspect," said Annesprite as she poured a cup of freshly brewed green tea and handed it to Kevin who took.

"What's that?" Kevin asked, sipping on his tea.

"You're a Prince of Time."

"A prince?! Like royalty?"

She scoffed at him and replied, "Hardly. It's just your class title."

"Oh…," said Kevin, clearly crestfallen.

"Oh, cheer up. It's not that bad. A prince is someone who destroys through his aspect. Or destroys his aspect."

"Wait, that sounds like I could end up hurting us or myself."

"Indeed, that is possible. A prince is the most powerful offensive class, but they are also sometimes careless or unstable. They can end up destroying their aspect and harming themselves and their teammates."

"I see… Um, well, does that mean I'll end up doing that?"

Annesprite smiled slyly at him, "Who knows? After all, that's up to you and your decisions from here on out."

"Well that was all sorts of helpful. Thanks."

"No need to be snarky. I'm only telling you the truth. What happens from this point forward and what will determine if you destroy your aspect or destroy with your aspect is up to you."

Kevin sighed and said, "I guess you're right. Well, what should I do now then?"

"You should probably contact your server player so that you can build up to the first gate. You should also find a weapon. This is a game after all. There are enemies here."

"Well that's just great. What am I supposed to use as a weapon?"

"Whatever you like really. How about that giant scythe over there?" she suggested, pointing to a picture of what looked like a grim reaper and its scythe.

"How is that going to help me?"

"Just use it on the alchemiter. It'll make a real copy of the picture."

"Oh, sweet!"

Kevin followed Annesprite's instructions and, sure enough, the alchemiter generated a usable replica of the grim reaper's scythe. Kevin grabbed the scythe and went to twirl it around when he noticed the strife specibus appear. It said that he could now use scythekind. Kevin sort of shrugged it off for the moment and continued to test out the new scythe. When he was done, he was unsure of what to do with the scythe. As if on cue, the scythe vanished and the interface for the strife deck appeared as the scythe was deposited there. Kevin was pleased to learn about this storage system. It would surely make life a lot easier. He attempted to contact Blair, but she was not responding. He was forced to stop trying for the moment as a small horde of imps was descending upon him.

Kevin withdrew his scythe from the strife specibus and readied himself for combat. The imps approached and Kevin began to slice through them with the scythe. He was doing fine, but their numbers were becoming too much for him as he was not well-trained with the scythe yet. He was getting backed into a corner. Out of desperation, he grabbed his scythe at the end of the shaft and swung it wildly in a horizontal direction while shouting, partial from exertion and partially from adrenaline. His scythe missed all the targets, but it did produce a flash of red light. When he looked again, he noticed that the imps had become old and decrepit looking. Kevin, unsure as to what had just happened, seized the opportunity and quickly slashed through the now elderly imps, collecting their grist as he went. He turned to face Annesprite, returning the scythe to the strife deck.

"What just happened?" Kevin asked Annesprite.

"You used your powers as a Prince of Time," she replied, smirking. "Albeit unconsciously and not very well. For a prince, such lack of control could be… catastrophic."

"I see. Well, then I'll have to be more careful in the future."

"That would indeed be advisable."

Kevin checked his computer and noticed that Blair had finally replied to him. She apologized for not responding sooner, but she had apparently been knocked unconscious and awoken on Prospit. She promised to explain things to him and the rest of the group at a later time as she thought it would be most prudent to build up Kevin's house and pass him through the gate. Kevin agreed, although he was very curious about Prospit and dream selves. Blair set to work and Kevin continued to slay more imps in order to provide Blair with enough grist. Blair finished the construction project pretty quickly and bid Kevin farewell as she had some matters of her own to which she must attend. Kevin wished her good luck and began his ascent to the first gate with Annesprite following closely behind him. He encountered a few more minions along his way, but he was able to easily dispatch them. When he finally reached the top, Annesprite stopped him.

"This is as far as I go," she said.

"What?" asked Kevin, mildly exasperated.

"I cannot pass through the gate with you. It's time for you to begin your real adventure."

"But what if I need you for something?"

She smiled slyly at him and withdrew a bright ruby pendant. She presented it to Kevin and said, "If you are ever in need of my services, use this pendant to summon me. I will come."

Kevin took the pendant, placed it around his neck and said, "Thanks. Well, I guess I should be off."

Annesprite nodded and moved out of Kevin's way. Kevin approached the gate. He looked back at Annesprite who nodded reassuringly at him. After that, he turned to face that gate and leapt through it and into the real Land of Tin and Cogs.

**Chapter 5: Prospit, the City of Light**

Blair awoke, dazed and a little confused. She looked around the room that she was in and noticed that it really resembled her own bedroom except that everything was golden. She examined her clothes and realized that she was wearing a brilliant golden nightgown with a white crescent moon emblazoned upon the front. She moved to the balcony of the room and realized that she was in a tower of some sort. She looked at the land before her and saw a city of gold. All of the buildings and streets were golden in color. She looked to the sky and she saw beautiful clouds. As she stared at them, images began to appear in them. She saw her friends arriving in strange new worlds and them traveling to different worlds. As she stared at the clouds, she began floating towards them. She looked away from the clouds and realized that she was flying. She thought that this was a pretty awesome power. She looked back at the clouds and saw something terrible. The scenes the flashed before her eyes showed all of her friends lying in pools of their own blood. They had all been slain. As the clouds moved, a big cloud appeared and it showed her lying dead on a floor, covered in blood and wounds with her eyes wide open.

Blair screamed and flew away from the clouds. She refused to look back at them as she flew across prospit. She had no destination in mind, but she wanted to get away from the visions. As she moved through the city, she saw white carapacian entities. They appeared to be the citizens of this place. Some of them noticed her and would smile and wave. She would sheepishly smile back and sometimes wave before continuing. Blair eventually reached an enormous building which appeared to be a palace of sorts. She floated down to a big window and peered inside the building. Inside the palace, she saw what appeared to be the throne room. She saw the queen sitting on her throne, consulting with many advisors. Blair couldn't hear what they were saying, but the white queen looked very concerned. For a moment, she glanced skyward again. There she saw the Battlefield and the White and Black armies. It was clear that Black had the advantage and that they would soon overtake the White army. Blair knew this must be what concerned the queen. She felt compelled to help, but was unsure how.

She suddenly began to feel very tired. She decided she should return to her tower, so she began to fly back to it. On her way, she noticed two other towers. Fighting her sleepiness, she flew over to them. In the first tower, she saw Xavi. In the second tower, she saw Tash. Both of them were sound asleep, wearing similar golden pajamas. This intrigued her, but Blair could no longer fight the drowsiness, so she promptly returned to her bed in her tower and closed her eyes.

**Chapter 6: The Land of Forests and Frogs**

Blair's eyes snapped open. She was lying on the floor of her living room next to the alchemiter. The back of her head hurt and when she touched it, she felt a small lump. She realized that must have fallen and been knocked out. As she sat up, she saw her meowchisprite floating next to her. She knew she would have to prototype it again and perhaps doing so would help her understand some things. She heard a meow from behind her. She looked in the direction of the sound to see her cat, Linus, sitting on a table. She figured that he would make a perfect second prototyping, so she went and picked him up from the table and tosses him into the sprite. The sprite transformed into a hybrid image of her beloved cat and her extraordinarily cute and fluffy meowchi plushie. Linussprite looked at her and smiled with his cute cat face.

"Hello!" said Linussprite.

"Um, hi," said Blair, still a bit overwhelmed by the cuteness and the fact that her cat could talk now.

"Don't be so alarmed! You picked the purrfect combination for a sprite. And now I can talk to you!"

Blair smiled and said, "Thanks. It's good to be able to actually talk to you."

"Yep! So, now I guess I should tell you some about this world."

"That'd be awesome, but first I have something I want to ask you about."

"Oh? Well purrlease ask me. I'll do what I can to answer."

"When I was knocked out, I woke up in this golden city. I could fly around and stuff, so I went looking around. While I was there, I saw some clouds. In those clouds I saw my friends and I dying. All of us. Just.. dead. Sitting in pools of our own blood…"

Blair trailed off as the horrific images danced across her mind. She shook her head, trying to dispel the thoughts. After a moment, she had recovered and she looked at Linussprite.

"While you were unconscious, you were awake on Prospit, the city of light and the home of the White King and Queen. Those clouds are the clouds of Skaia. What you saw were visions of the future. Things that have not yet come to pass, but will."

Blair's eyes grew wide and what little color she had in her face drained from it as Linussprite's words sunk in. She said, "Then you mean to say that my friends and I are fated to die?"

Linussprite nodded and said, "If that is what you saw, then, yes, it is what I am saying; however, you do not know the context in which those deaths occurred. Also, death is not always the end in this world."

Linussprite went on to explain the method of reviving a player and that their session had a healer as well as a Life player. This reassured Blair a little bit, but she was still shaken by this knowledge. Linussprite then gave her a concise explanation of Skaia, the Battlefield, Prospit and Derse, the game, the gates, and her quest. Blair took in this new information quietly.

"Lastly, I need to explain your class and aspect," said Linussprite.

"Ok. So, what am I?" asked Blair.

"You are a Muse of Space."

"I'm a Muse? What does that do?"

"The Muse is one of two 'master' classes. These are supposedly the most powerful classes; however, the Muse is also an extraordinarily passive class. You do not directly cause things to happen like the other classes. Instead, you inspire things to happen. Things will happen because of you."

"OK. Well, that sounds both awesome and terrible."

Linussprite laughed softly and replied, "Indeed it might be. But I am confident that you will be able to use it well. Now, I should explain your aspect, Space. Space deals with the fabric of reality. The physical matter of the universe. Your aspect gives your power over all of that."

"I see. So I can inspire change in the world around me. I can cause big things to happen through my aspect. I think I can do that."

"Of course you can! After all, that's why you're the Muse of Space. I know you'll do brilliantly."

"Thanks, Linussprite. So what should I do now?"

"Well, you should try and find some sort of weapon. After that, you should hurry to the first gate. All of your other friends have already made it there while you were unconscious."

"Ahh! Of course I'm behind! OK, time to get it in gear!"

She began to look around her house for something that she could use as a weapon. She finally came across a knives and daggers magazine. She flipped through the pages and found a variety of throwing knives, hidden blades, and daggers that she liked. She brought the magazine to the alchemiter and proceeded to alchemize them. She picked up her knives and daggers. As she did, the strife specibus appeared, indicating that she could now use knifekind. The knives then placed themselves in her strife deck for retrieval at any time. Blair willed on of her throwing daggers to appear and it did. She smiled and returned it to the strife deck. This weapon storage system would be very helpful and useful to her, especially in regards to her throwing weapons. Just as she had finished this, the saw imps approaching her. They had gotten in through the windows and doors.

"What the heck are those things?!" Blair asked rather loudly.

"They are underlings. Imp type, specifically," replied Linussprite. They are the weakest enemies in this session, but be careful. Their numbers can overwhelm you."

"They look creepy as fuck. Like, they seem a bit hodge podged."

"They, just like the Royals, were affected by the first prototyping of the players' sprites."

"Well, that would explain a lot."

"Indeed. Now, I suggest you prepare for strife. There's quite a lot of them waiting for you."

Blair looked at the oncoming wave of imps. She crossed her hands in front of her body with her left hand just above her right shoulder and her left hand just below her left armpit. She summoned some of her throwing knives as she flung her arms outward, releasing the knives from her hand and unleashing a volley of throwing knives upon the imps. Several of the knives found their mark, slaying the imps immediately, but the rest hit the floor, walls, or furniture. This has at least taken care of some of the closer imps. She removed two daggers from her strife deck and engaged the imps in close combat. Blair was surprisingly nimble in spite of her dress and she moved with an air of grace. She quickly dispatched the remaining imps, but found herself out of breath afterward. She noticed that the imps had dropped some items, so she retrieved them as well as her throwing knives.

"Excellent job!" said Linussprite. "You gained a few levels from that and you also obtained a fair amount of grist!"

"I take it grist is that weird gusher looking stuff they dropped?" asked Blair.

"Indeed! Grist is used to build and to alchemize items."

"Cool. Well, now that that's out of the way, I guess I should contact Michael and get him to build my house up so that I can reach the first gate. I have a lot of work to do."

Linussprite nodded and replied, "Yeah, but you'll be just fine! Just contact him."

She opened her laptop and sent Michael a private message on IRC. He quickly replied and began to build her house immediately. He asked her to try and kill a few more imps so that he would have a bit more grist available. She captchalogued her laptop and went to find more imps to kill. It wasn't very hard and the was able to fell them quickly, collecting their grist drops as she continued. Michael finished building her a path to the roof pretty quickly and she thanked him using her IRC phone app so that she didn't have to bring out her laptop. With that out of the way, she proceeded to the top of her house.

When she arrived there, she found an armored ogre awaiting tried to hide how intimidated she was by this and decided to engage it by using her throwing knives. She launched them at the ogre and they all landed, but they bounced off the ogre's armor, having absolutely no effect on him. The ogre swung its massive arm at Blair. She ran out of the way as she began to panic. She really wasn't sure what to do with her knives being useless against the enemy. She was in danger and had no way out and no way to really defend herself. The ogre brought its arm towards her again, but this time in a horizontal sweep. Blair couldn't get out of the way in time and she was sent flying across the roof. She stopped rolling just before the edge. She scrambled to her feet, rattled from the hit. She looked at the armored ogre and saw the evil in its eyes. She had one last throwing knife left in her strife deck. The armored ogre moved to smash her with its arm again. She took the last throwing knife and hurled it at the oncoming ogre and shouted, "Please work!".

The knife hit the ogre in the chest and kept on going, completely piercing the ogre and its armor, and exited through the other side of the ogre. The armored ogre fell and burst into grist. Blair stood there for a minute just shaking and staring. She had no idea what happened. Linussprite appeared to try and explain things.

"Well," said Linussprite. "That was quite impressive."

"I… I don't even know what I did," replied Blair.

"In your desperation and dire situation, you inspired your weapon, increasing its density exponentially."

"I did what?"

"You made the knife a lot heavier and harder. Combined with its velocity, it essentially became a very sharp bullet. I know it wasn't an intentional use of your power, but good job nonetheless."

"I see," said Blair, regaining her composure finally. "Well, I guess I should get going then."

"Not just yet," said Linussprite. "I have something for you."

Linussprite withdrew a pendant with a pitch black diamond in it. He handed the item to Blair.

"I cannot follow you beyond the gate," said Linussprite. "Use the pendant to summon me to your side at any time. I will appear; I promise."

"Thank you. I will," replied Blair as she put the pendant around her neck. "I should get going."

"Indeed. Good luck on your adventure."

Blair nodded and turned to face the first gate. She walked towards it and then started to run. Finally, as she was almost under the gate, she jumped and passed through the portal, taking her first real steps into the Land of Forests and Frogs.

**End of Book 2**


End file.
